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OLYMPICS COUNTDOWN

In it to win it

Photo: AP

A matter of nationalistic pride: Liu Xiang, China’s first gold medallist in track and field, celebrating in Athens.

When China hosts the Olympic Games next month, it will be going for gold. Not only does the country see the event as a golden opportunity to showcase the achievements of its monumental modernisation drive, but also as a chance to emerge as the Olympi cs’ top gold medal winner.

The fact that it stands a more than sporting chance of achieving its gold-goal is all the more astonishing given that China made its Olympics-debut as late as 1984 in Los Angeles. Prior to this, the International Olympic Committee’s recognition of teams from Taiwan as the official representatives of China had kept Beijing away.

Despite its long isolation from the event, by the 1996 Games in Atlanta, China had already made it to fourth place in the medals tally with 16 golds. In Sydney, four years later, China finished third with 28 golds. In Athens, where India, the only other country with a comparable population, finished with a grand total of a single silver medal, China’s 32 gold medals saw it second only to the United States. The logic of its ascent to the number one spot in Beijing appears inexorable.

The sporting achievement of a country that was for decades dismissively referred to by countries in the West as the “sick man of Asia” is the result of a complex of factors including nationalism, strong State support and funding and a clear-cut, medals-focussed Olympics strategy.

“For, China doing well in the Olympic Games is an opportunity to establish international prestige and earn ‘face’ on the world stage. Since sporting achievement is indicative of the level of a nation’s development, we feel we could change the world’s impression regarding China by performing well at the Olympics,” says Xie Qionghuan, former Deputy Secretary General of the Chinese Olympic Committee.

Mr. Xie, currently a professor of sports sociology at the Beijing Sports University, is only echoing a belief that was articulated by the People’s Republic’s founding father: Mao Zedong. “If our bodies are not strong, how can we attain our goals and make ourselves respected?” Mao had asked in an article published as far back as 1917.

The spirit of avenging nationalist pride that has ever since underlain China’s sporting efforts has been backed up by hard cash and other forms of State support. China does not make public what it spends on sports programmes, but it is estimated to be several hundred million US dollars annually.

Mr. Xie added that a clever Olympics strategy has targeted sports “suitable to the physiques and talents of East Asian peoples.” He gave the examples of events such as table tennis, badminton and gymnastics, all of which China has come to excel in. These are sports that require quick reflexes and flexibility rather than brute physical strength and stamina.

Some critics have claimed that China’s success at the Olympics is somewhat undermined by the fact of its having targeted “soft sports”, under-developed in other countries, like shooting and taekwondo as well as women’s sports in general. About 63 per cent of China’s medals in Athens were won by women — excluding mixed sports — compared with about 40 per cent for the U.S. and Russia.

But China’s relentless drive for Olympic glory means that even this is changing. In Athens, Liu Xiang became China’s first men’s Olympic gold medallist in track and field, the glamour sport of the Games. And while a decade ago the Chinese were serious contenders in only a handful of sports like ping pong and diving, in Athens they competed in every sport except for baseball and equestrian events. In 2008, China will compete in all 28 Olympic sports.

China’s sports system is borrowed and adapted from that of the former Soviet Union. It relies on an extensive network of scouts and coaches who ferret out the best sporting talent from the country’s vast pool of youngsters studying in primary schools. Potential future champions are given detailed physical exams to test whether their bone structure and bodies are likely to develop in a way appropriate for a certain sport: height is key for volleyball, strength for weightlifting, agility for gymnastics.

Those chosen are then funnelled into a pyramid-like sports training structure.

At the top of the pyramid are some 300 elite sports training schools nationwide where 46,000 youngsters aged 6-18 undergo intensive daily training. Below this tier of top schools are another 3,000-odd, level-2 specialist sports schools with about 4,00,000 children in training. Finally at the base, six million youth hone their skills at 11,400 regular schools that also happen to specialise in one or another sporting category.

Shishahai Sports School is one of the Chinese capital’s most successful top-tier training institutions. Adjoining a popular bar and entertainment complex in central Beijing, the school churns out Olympic gold medallists with flabbergasting regularity and is a window onto China’s sporting system as a whole. In Athens, students from Shishahai alone won five gold medals, three in individual and two in team sports.

Specialising in six Olympic sports — ping pong, badminton, gymnastics, volleyball, boxing and taekwondo — the school has an annual budget of some $30 million. Two thirds of this comes from the government.

A visit to the cavernous gymnastics training hall revealed row after row of toddlers, some as young as five. Looking cute in leotards, many had missing milk teeth. They lined up obediently, their expressions neither sad, nor happy for hours of bone-aching exercises. Others hung from rings or cart-wheeled perfectly across long mats.

The coaches were stern with them. There seemed to be few allowances made for their age or the fact that at five and six they had virtually no say in the decision to enter training. No Buddhia-like controversy is known to have erupted in China.

“Sacrifices are necessary to be a champion,” said Liu Hong Bin, the school’s director, by way of explanation for the harsh regime.

However, the emphasis on sacrifice for the glory of the country to the detriment of the personal fulfilment and on occasion even health of individual athletes is perhaps the most trenchant criticism of China’s sports machine.

For many athletes, playing through injuries is standard practice. The celebrated diver Hu Jia, for example, will be participating in the upcoming Olympics despite damage to both retinas of his eyes. Champions also face tremendous pressure from the State not to retire even if they personally feel burnt out.

Sports historian Zhao Yu holds that the government-led nature of sports in China leads to an over-emphasis on medals and winning, while developing grass-roots love of sports remains neglected. “We are not a real sporting country because we lack a popular base. Most Chinese kids in normal schools are purely focussed on academics and sports are rarely seen as beneficial or important. Our success in the Olympics is artificially engineered from the top,” he said.

Mr. Xie was of the view that the focus on gold medals was appropriate to a particular historical juncture in China to prove to the world what the country was capable of. He concurred with Mr. Zhao, however, arguing that “now we (the Chinese) should reconsider our sports value system and also focus on the enjoyment of sports and the spirit of sports rather than merely winning.”

But, despite his call for a revaluation of China’s sporting priorities, Mr. Xie concludes with a reiteration of the fact that those countries that fared well in the Olympics tended to be “big countries, strong countries and rich countries.” Doing well in the Olympics was thus an indication of the overall development of a country he says, adding that the opportunity to host the games had made “the whole country excited and helped China gain in confidence.”

Clearly, the Olympics are about far more than sporting success for China. They have been used by the authorities to rally the nation together and to legitimise Beijing’s authority. They have also been used as a platform to push through major changes to Beijing’s material and metaphysical topography. As a result, the city today presents both a brand new look and image.

However, while the Games are undoubtedly about more than sports alone, when it comes to the actual sporting competitions themselves, China is unlikely to disappoint. The United States should look to its laurels.

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